William J. Hoffman and LeRoy Weber at Pearl Harbor-- Part 2

The West Virginia was soon engulfed in flames and it wasn't until the next day that they were extinguished.It sank in shallow water, but was later raised, repaired and essentially rebuilt and rejoined the war later.

William J. Hoffman had a lot to do with the reconstruction of many of the damaged vessels.

After the huge salvage project at Pearl Harbor, he received another  commendation for his 'successful handling of the largest dry-docking program ever undertaken,' having supervised repairs on 139 dry-docks in his charge  in September 1944.

His first citation which he received several days after the attack  read "for extremely efficient  action and unusual presence of mind and disregard of personal safety during the attack on Pearl Harbor."

Weber enlisted in the Navy in 1939 and stayed in until 1945 and never forgot how close he had come to losing his life that day.  "The Phoenix was in an awful lot of battles," he said.  "But somehow, I made it through."

--GreGen

William J. Hoffman and LeRoy Weber at Pearl Harbor That Day-- Part 1

From the December 9, 2019, Wicked Local "Shore Lore:  Outer Cape to Pearl Harbor" by Don Wilding.

Two men from Eastham and Orleans, Massachusetts, (on Cape Cod) were lucky to survive that day.

William J. Hoffman, of  Eastham, was a civilian  in Naval service where he was the leading man  shipwright in the navy yard docks.  He received a citation after the battle from Secretary of the Navy Frank  Knox, reading in part that Hoffman "in on his own initiative, manning a rowboat and making repeated trips back and forth across the harbor under fire of bombers and machine guns bringing men from abandoned ships to  to the docks in the Navy Yard."

Prior to the attack, LeRoy Webster, from Minnesota at the time, but later a resident of Orleans,  was waiting on the deck of the USS Phoenix for a boat to carry him to the battleship USS West Virginia for church services.

"When the attack began, I was standing there waiting," said Weber. "If the boat had come to get me five minutes earlier, I would have been blown to bits."  The West Virginia was hard hit.

He saw the planes approaching, but, "I didn't realize it was the real thing until I got to my battle station.  I heard firing and bombs -- an then the West Virginia blew up."

--GreGen